Tamir Rice Shooting: Family To Get $6m
The wrongful death settlement over the 12-year-old's fatal shooting by police is "nothing to celebrate" a family lawyer says.
Monday 25 April 2016 14:42, UK
The city of Cleveland has agreed to pay $6m (拢4.1m) to settle a wrongful death lawsuit over the fatal police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
The deal will see Tamir's family receiving $3m this year and another $3m next year.
The wrongful death lawsuit against the city and two officers accused the cops of acting recklessly when they confronted the boy on 22 November 2014.
The city did not acknowledge wrongdoing in the settlement, according to court documents.
"The resolution is nothing to celebrate because a 12-year-old child needlessly lost his life," family attorney Subodh Chandra said on Monday.
The officers had asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson told a news conference "there is no price you can put on the life of a 12-year-old child".
He added that the shooting "should not have happened" but did not elaborate.
Tamir was carrying a pellet gun when rookie patrolman Timothy Loehmann opened fire on the black youngster.
Footage of the fatal shooting recorded by a surveillance camera fuelled a national protest movement over police killings.
A grand jury decided in December not to indict Ofc Loehmann and his partner, Frank Garmback.
On Monday, Mr Chandra said the Rice family had been "cheated" out of true justice.
In announcing the grand jury's decision in December, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty said a "perfect storm of human error" led to the boy's death, but the officers' actions did not amount to a crime.
A federal civil rights investigation is pending, and a local use-of-force committee is determining whether the officers should be disciplined.
The officers encountered Tamir after responding to a 911 call about a man waving a gun at a Cleveland playground.
CCTV footage showed the boy repeatedly drawing the weapon from his waistband and putting it back.
He was also seen pointing the pistol at other children, authorities said.
Within two seconds of their police cruiser skidding to a stop, Ofc Loehmann exited the vehicle and opened fire.
Mr McGinty said investigators believed Tamir most likely intended to hand over the airsoft pistol, but "there was no way for the officers to know".
He called on gun manufacturers to do more to make the airsoft pistols look like toys and not real weapons.